There are various methods by which consumers may obtain credit. Many of these methods involve the consumer having to apply to a specific credit issuer for a specific type of credit, such as a car loan. The credit issuer performs a check on the consumer's credit history by submitting a hard credit inquiry to a credit reporting agency and decides at least partially on the basis of the results of this credit check whether or not to offer the consumer the requested type of credit. This process has several deficiencies. A consumer who applies for credit is not guaranteed to receive that credit, causing the consumer to possibly have to apply to multiple credit issuers. Each time a credit issuer submits a hard credit inquiry about a consumer's credit history the hard credit inquiry is noted on the consumer's credit history, and the consumer's credit history is negatively impacted. As a result, particularly if the consumer has no credit history, the consumer may be denied credit. Applying for but not receiving credit can make it harder for a consumer to obtain credit in the future. Each time a consumer is rejected for credit, the consumer's creditworthiness is considered to be decreased.
Some consumers may receive via mail credit offers for which they have been preapproved. These offers come directly from a credit issuer and arrive one at a time. The consumer is not given a choice among various offers of credit from different credit issuers for which the consumer is preapproved, unless the offers arrive in the mail at the same time. The consumer cannot proactively obtain these offers at any time, but may call a specific credit issuer and ask to be put on a list to be screened for a preapproved credit offer from that issuer on the next occasion the credit issuer sends out preapproved credit offers.